Process of producing artificial fuel.



and the Processes for the Production of the lump is friable or so large a quantity of binder UNITED STATES WILLIAM P. TAGGART, OF READING,

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE ZlVOYER FUEL COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING ARTIFICIAL FUEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPate'nt Ive. 655,282, dated Aii ust *7, 1900.

Application filed May '18, 1900. Serial No. 17,157. (No specimens) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I',WILLIAM P. TAGGAET, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Reading, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Artificial Fuels Same,of which the following is a specification. The purpose of my invention is to utilize the vast heaps of comminuted coal or culm which have accumulated at every worked coal mine in this country and which are now a waste product by forming the same into compact, durable, waterproof lumps of convenient size for practical use as a fuel.

I am aware that many attempts have heretofore been made to accomplish this result, but owing either to defects in the productor in the process involved or because the cost of production was such as to preclude competition with the natural fuel none of these prior attempts have proved commercially successful, and comminuted coal still continues to be a waste product. My invention is intended to overcome these difficulties and produces afuel not only considerably cheaper,but in many respects superior to the natural product. A common defect of these prior processes has been that the importance of having the particles of coal to be treated of small and practically uniform size has not been recognized. Dust and particles as large and larger than a pea have been combined indiscriminately into one lump.' In consequence either the attachment of the binder to these larger particles is feeble and the resulting is required as to render the cost of production prohibitory. Furthermore, no matter how much binder is used the difficulty is not overcome, since these artificial fuels are all molded into geometrical forms under heavy pressure. Thus the larger particles are crushed, and when so crushed there is no binder at all between the resulting particles to hold them together. The consequence is that the product is friable and the waste incident to transportation and handling is so great as to render the residue of the fuel too expensive for use as compared with the natural product.

My process consistsin first reducing the culm to be treated to particles of small and uniform size, the finer the better. Economy of production is of the first importance in every commercial manufacture on a large scale. For this reason in actual practice I do not reduce my culm to a powder, but screen it through a No.12 screen,usin g everything which will pass the screen and excluding everything which will not. This gives a good practical result, and, all things considered, is What I prefer. \Vhile a coarser screen may be used, and thus some crushing of larger particles be dispensed with, which is of course an economy, it will be at the expense of the quality of the product, and in this specification and in its claims when I speak of particles of culm of small and uniform size I desire to be understood as meaning andincluding all particles which will pass through a No. 12 screen, including of course a slight margin of difference on the coarse]; side. The culm in this condition of subdivision is then introduced into a mixer, and intimately mixed with a binding solution which consists of from five to six pounds of dextrine and five pounds of salt dissolved in twelve gallons of water to each ton of culm. After the culm is intimately mixed with the binding solution it appears to be slightly moist and is slightly cohesive. It is then subjected to strong pressure in molds of any desired geometric form, which compacts the contents of the mold, bringing the particles into such close contact with one another that a relatively-small quantity of binder suffices to unite them into a firmly coherent lump. The molded lumps are then baked at a heat of, say, 300 to 600 Fahrenheit in an oven until perfectly dry and hard, when the particles of culm will be found to cohere firmly to one another, and each molded lump will have become a compact, coherent, and nonfriable entity. Lastly, and while still hot from the drying oven, the molded lumps are passed through a waterproofing bath. This bath may consist of any waterproof mixture or material which is combustible and remains liquid at a temperature somewhat lower than the temperature of the fuel lumps when introduced into the bath, which dries readily and when dry is not sticky and is reasonably .leum in the proportion of twenty-four and three-fourth pounds of melted rosin to onehalf gallon of crude pe troleum to answer very well, and this is about the consumption of waterproofing materiallexpect to use for each ton of culm. The addition of two to three. pounds of paraffin-wax improves the bath somewhat, but increases its-cost. This bath is of course used in a fluid condition, and I artificial fuel, which consists in mixing parthe'result to be aimed at in its use is not to make a superficial glaze which might chip off, but to induce the waterproofing mixture to penetrate somewhat below the surface, so that while it protects the fuel lumps from moisture it is itself protected from harmful abrasion by the exposed surface of the fuel lump.

If the fuel is surely to be used where made and soon after it is made and kept under cover until used, the waterproofing process may be dispensed with; but unless this is certain the fuel should be waterproofed when made.

The result of my process is a cleanly compact non-friable waterproof fuel which ignites readily, burns with considerable clear and smokeless flame, and leaves a very little clean ash as a residue. A fire made from it requires a minimum of attention, since the fuel retains its original form until practically quite consumed and does not clinker or run together so as to clog the draft. Also it makes a very lasting fire. An ordinary grate full of my fuel kindled one day will on the following day still hold fire sufficient to ignite a fresh charge of fuel without the use of any wood or other kindling. .My experiments lead me, to believe that pound for pound my fuel will yield more heat-than the coal from which it is made in its natural state, aresuit I attribute to the thoroughness with which it is consumed, as it leaves practically nothing combustible which isnot wholly burned.

those proportions are certainly good,and probably the best.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The within-described process of making ticles of coal reduced to small and substantially uniform size. with a solution of dextrine and salt, pressing this mixture into lumps of any desired form and size, and then baking the same until thoroughly dry and hard.

2. The within-described process of making artificial fuel, which consists in mixi'ngfparticles of coal reduced to small and substantially uniform size witha solution of d'extrine and salt, pressing this mixture into lumpsof' any desired form and size, baking them until thoroughly dry and hard, and passing the. same through a waterproofing bat-h.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an artificial fuel composed of particles of coal re, duced to small and substantially uniform size bound together by dextrine and salt, and pressed into a geometrical form.

4. As a new article of manufacture, an artificial fuel composed of particles of coal reduced to small and substantially uniform size bound together by dextrine and. salt, and pressed into a geometrical form, and provided with a waterproof coating. v

Signed at the city of New York,in the county of New York and State of New York, this 8th day of May, A. D. 1900.

v. P. TAGGAR'I.

lVitnesses:

F. M. D'ONSBAQH, WM. OSHAUeHNEssY. 

